AsianBoxing.info- The Site for Asian Boxing News, Results and Profiles

Whilst we all want world champions to be active and defending their belts on a regular basis this isn't always possible. For whatever reason Kazakhstan's Light Heavyweight Beibut Shumenov (14-1, 9) has been one of those inactive champions. The WBA "super" Light Heavyweight champion, for whatever reason, had been inactive for 18 months. Despite the long lay-off though Shumenov was still regarded as a top Light Heavyweight and thankfully we saw why as he made his return to action this weekend.Fighting little known Tamas Kovacs (23-1, 14), who entered the bout as the WBA's #14 ranked contender, the bout was seen as a mismatch from the off. Despite the fact it was a mismatch it was also clearly a chance to give Shumenov a showcase bout on Showtime under new promoter Golden Boy Promotions. It was a chance to also shake off the ring rust and give Showtime their own Light Heavyweight fighter having seen rival network HBO establish 2 of their own in the past 12 months.Unfortunately the bout proved to be every bit the mismatch that people thought it would be.Kovacs started well, but by started well we mean he had a good first 30 seconds. Within a minute Shumenov had began to find his rhythm, timing and by the end of the round he was not looking like a man who had been inactive for more than a year. If anyone was looking rusty it was Kovacs who was dropped very late in the round by a left hook.For Kovacs the first round was probably his best, or rather Shumenov's worst. The second round saw Shumenov going up a gear and he dropped Kovacs again, this time with a lovely left uppercut that had a delayed reaction. It was clear the men were in completely different leagues in terms of skills and power.With Shumenov knowing he was in total control he went out for round 3 looking for the perfect shot. He was waiting for a bomb and although he did take one or two in the round he knew he was going to get a chance to drop Kovacs for a third time. That chance came earlier than some would have expected as Shumenov dropped Kovacs for a third time with a powerful straight right. This time the referee wasn't willing to let Kovacs go on. It had only taken 3 rounds but Shumenov had managed to make a statement.It seemed that Showtime were trying to push a bout between to Shumenov and IBF champion Bernard Hopkins. In all honesty we'd expect Hopkins to win that one if it gets made but unfortunately Shumenov's options are quite limited. It appears that Sergey Kovalev, Adonis Stevenson, Lucien Bute and Jean Pascal are all tied up with HBO, Shumenob however is, as mentioned, a Showtime fighter. We hope that Shumenov can get good fights but it's clear that the best fights out there aren't going to be there for Shumenov, at least in the short term. Hopkins would be one option another would be WBA "regular" champion Juergen Braehmer but apart from those fights it's hard to see an interesting option for Shumenov.